Research Paper #1 – Gender Comparisons in Research For this assignment, you will choose one area of gender comparisons and do further research beyond your textbook. You will need to narrow your topics down beyond thegeneral categories listed in Chapters 5 and 6. In Chapter 5, you have two general comparison areas (cognitive abilities and attitudes about achievements). If you choose, for example, cognitive abilities to explore in your paper, you will want to further narrow your topic down to specific abilities (e.g., memory, mathematics, verbal ability, spatial ability, etc.). In Chapter 6, you have three general comparison areas (communication patterns, characteristics related to helping and caring, and characteristics related to aggression and power). If you choose, for example, communication patterns to explore in your paper, you will want to further narrow your topic down to a specific kind of communication (e.g., verbal or nonverbal). Whenever possible, select meta-analytic studies for your references (see pp. 147-148 in your textbook). The body of your paper should be between 5 and 7 double-spaced pages in length. You are to use 12 point Times New Roman font. At least five (5) reference sources, not counting your textbook, are required. These sources must be articles from psychological journals, not websites, online encyclopedias, or books. Be sure to use correct APA style format for in-text and reference citations. Issues Management Exercise The U.S. Supreme Court declares in June 2015 that all Americans have a constitutional right to marriage, including same-sex couples. Kim Davis, clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, repeatedly defied a court order to issue licenses to all eligible couples, gay or straight, citing religious objections to same sex marriage. The confrontation sets up an Issues Management challenge, pitting the constitutional right to marriage equality against the constitutional right to religious freedom. Issues Management Exercise Federal Judge Orders Kentucky Clerk Released From Jail Kim Davis jailed Thursday for refusal to issue marriage licenses in gay-marriage dispute By Arian Campo-Flores The Wall Street Journal A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that a Kentucky county clerk who had refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples be released from jail and forbade her from interfering with her deputies, who have been providing licenses since Friday. U.S. District Judge David Bunning jailed Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk, for contempt last week after she repeatedly defied his order to issue licenses to all eligible couples, gay or straight. He then secured a commitment from five of her deputy clerks that they would grant the licenses in her absence. The deputies began issuing them on Friday. On Tuesday, a group of plaintiffs who had sued Ms. Davis filed a report confirming that they had succeeded in obtaining licenses, prompting Judge Bunning to order Ms. Davis released. “The court.

1. Research Paper #1 – Gender Comparisons in Research
For this assignment, you will choose one area of gender
comparisons and do further research beyond your textbook.
You will need to narrow your topics down beyond thegeneral
categories listed in Chapters 5 and 6. In Chapter 5, you have
two general comparison areas (cognitive abilities and attitudes
about achievements). If you choose, for example, cognitive
abilities to explore in your paper, you will want to further
narrow your topic down to specific abilities (e.g., memory,
mathematics, verbal ability, spatial ability, etc.). In Chapter 6,
you have three general comparison areas (communication
patterns, characteristics related to helping and caring, and
characteristics related to aggression and power). If you choose,
for example, communication patterns to explore in your paper,
you will want to further narrow your topic down to a specific
kind of communication (e.g., verbal or nonverbal). Whenever
possible, select meta-analytic studies for your references (see
pp. 147-148 in your textbook).
The body of your paper should be between 5 and 7 double-
spaced pages in length. You are to use 12 point Times New
Roman font. At least five (5) reference sources, not counting
your textbook, are required. These sources must be articles
from psychological journals, not websites, online
encyclopedias, or books. Be sure to use correct APA style
format for in-text and reference citations.
Issues Management Exercise
The U.S. Supreme Court declares in June 2015 that all
Americans have a constitutional right to marriage, including
same-sex couples.
Kim Davis, clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, repeatedly

2. defied a court order to issue licenses to all eligible couples, gay
or straight, citing religious objections to same sex marriage.
The confrontation sets up an Issues Management challenge,
pitting the constitutional right to marriage equality against the
constitutional right to religious freedom.
Issues Management Exercise
Federal Judge Orders Kentucky Clerk Released From Jail
Kim Davis jailed Thursday for refusal to issue marriage licenses
in gay-marriage dispute
By
Arian Campo-Flores
The Wall Street Journal
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that a Kentucky
county clerk who had refused to issue marriage licenses to
same-sex couples be released from jail and forbade her from
interfering with her deputies, who have been providing licenses
since Friday.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning jailed Kim Davis, the
Rowan County clerk, for contempt last week after she
repeatedly defied his order to issue licenses to all eligible
couples, gay or straight. He then secured a commitment from
five of her deputy clerks that they would grant the licenses in
her absence. The deputies began issuing them on Friday.
On Tuesday, a group of plaintiffs who had sued Ms. Davis
filed a report confirming that they had succeeded in obtaining
licenses, prompting Judge Bunning to order Ms. Davis released.
“The court is therefore satisfied that the Rowan County
Clerk’s Office is fulfilling its obligation to issue marriage
licenses to all legally eligible couples, consistent with the U.S.
Supreme Court’s holding” in June, declaring a constitutional
right to same-sex marriage, Judge Bunning wrote.
But he issued a warning to Ms. Davis. She “shall not
interfere in any way, directly or indirectly, with the efforts of

3. her deputy clerks to issue marriage licenses to all legally
eligible couples,” Judge Bunning wrote. If she “should interfere
in any way with their issuance, that will be considered a
violation of this Order and appropriate sanctions will be
considered.”
Attorneys at Liberty Counsel, the nonprofit law firm
representing Ms. Davis, welcomed the judge’s order. “She can
never recover the past six days of her life spent in an isolated
jail cell, where she was incarcerated like a common criminal
because of her conscience and religious convictions,” said
chairman Mathew Staver. “She is now free to return to her
family, her co-workers and the office where she has faithfully
served for the past 27 years.”
Issues Management Exercise
But Mr. Staver didn’t address whether Ms. Davis would
comply with Judge Bunning’s order. In a hearing before the
judge last week, she turned down an offer from the judge to be
released from custody if she agreed to allow her deputies to
issue licenses.
After one of her deputies began providing licenses to
couples on Friday, substituting his name for hers, Ms. Davis’s
lawyers maintained that the documents weren’t valid because
they weren’t granted under her authority. “They’re not worth
the paper that they are written on,” Mr. Staver said.
Randy Smith, a Rowan County pastor who has been
organizing rallies in support of Ms. Davis, said he believed she
would remain firm in her stance. “If I know Kim, she’ll be back
in jail before long,” he said.
On Monday, Ms. Davis’s attorneys sought to secure her
release by filing an emergency motion with the Sixth U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals. It requested that Democratic Gov.
Steve Beshear accommodate her religious convictions by
exempting her from his order earlier this year that the state’s

4. county clerks follow the Supreme Court’s ruling and issue
marriage licenses to all couples. Mr. Beshear said in July that
any clerks whose beliefs prevented them from issuing licenses
should consider resigning.
Ms. Davis’s release came on the same day two Republican
presidential contenders—former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas — were scheduled to visit her
at the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, Ky.
Mr. Huckabee was planning to hold a rally Tuesday
afternoon to protest her jailing. “Having Kim Davis in federal
custody removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity
in our country,” he said in a news release.
Ms. Davis’s case has galvanized religious conservatives
around the country who oppose the Supreme Court’s gay-
marriage decision. A large crowd was gathered outside the jail
on Tuesday afternoon.
###
Issues Management Exercise
You are the director of communications for an LGBTQ
advocacy group that strongly supports and fights for broad
acceptance of marriage equality.
What advice would you give to your organization’s leadership
on how to address the actions of this county clerk?
(Do a short SWOT analysis.)
Things to consider:
Would you suggest an aggressive response, insisting that the
clerk follow the law or be thrown in jail? Would you organize
demonstrations protesting her failure to issue marriage licenses

5. to same-sex couples?
What would be the best approach to having your message of
tolerance toward marriage equality accepted by a broad
audience?
What do you want people to know about your group (your
reputation) and how does this situation help or hurt your efforts
to get those messages across?
Issues Management Exercise
Who would be considered stakeholders?
What research (primary/secondary) would you conduct to
understand how best to talk about this situation with your
various stakeholders?
Briefly describe how you would apply the four steps of strategic
public relations (Research, Planning, Execution, Evaluation.)
What does success look like?